I am basically a Java Developer who has mainly worked in Web Development. Recently I got assigned to a project where I am suppose to head a team developers for working on developing eclipse debugger which can debug an embedded application running on a hardware board.

Our embedded team uses ECLIPSE CDT, which in turn used the GDB Debugger to debug any remote embedded application. I am totally lost on how to start this project the possible options which I can think of are as following.

Try to Develop a debugger from scratch

Develop a GBD sprite and somehow make eclipse cdt-gdb recognize it and able to debug our board.

Extend the CDT debugger, so that we can get more custom views. But we will need GDB sprite also in this case.

1 Answer
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If i understand you clearly what you really need is to develop an eclipse plugin debugger which is capable of being able to debug your scripts . If this is what you want then you surely dont need to start from scratch . You MUST make use of the framework that eclipse itself provides rather that re-inventing the wheel .

This article How to make eclipse debugger plugin is an excellent example to how to be able to start making an eclipse debugger . You must understand the communication that happens between the eclipse framework and the sample interpreter ( see the link ) .

Once you understand the flow you will see that majority of the effort needed is in adding debug brain to your interpreter/compiler . The eclipse framework is robust and will need minimal customizations (if any ) . You will get to know the algorithm that should exist in your customized debugger . Its no easy task but not impossible either .